Chapter 3
Framing risk metaphorically
Changes in metaphors of COVID-19 over time in Japanese
As a case of the metaphorical framing of risk, this chapter
aims to explore metaphors of COVID-19 in Japanese, focusing on changes in
metaphorical sources over time and their social backgrounds based on an analysis of
metaphorical expressions in utterances directly quoted in newspaper articles. The
study is based on 2,593 newspaper articles that include the keyword
koronauirusu ‘coronavirus’. The three principal metaphor types
found were opponent in war framing, natural phenomenon in
disaster framing, and path in journey framing. The
temporal change in the number of examples of each metaphor was closely linked to the
“waves” of new infections. The results suggest that a temporal analysis of
metaphorical framing can lead to a deeper understanding of perspective changes in
risk discourse.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methods
- 2.1Material
- 2.2Identification of metaphors
- 2.3Description of metaphors
- 3.Trends in metaphorical framing
- 4.Changes in metaphors over time
- 4.1Risk as opponent
- 4.2Risk as natural phenomenon
- 4.3Risk as path
- 4.4Metaphorical framings of responsibility
- 5.Conclusion
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Acknowledgements
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Notes
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References